In the Los Alamos Monitor of Jan. 23, columnist Sherry Robinson suggests that New Mexico’s economic development suffers from inaction in the legislature. In the Jan. 22 Los Alamos Monitor, columnist Harold Morgan complains that New Mexico has a “cool” business climate, ranking 33rd in a survey compared to the neighboring states of Texas and Arizona, who ranked first and 10th in the list of best-to-worst states for business.
On a CNBC ranking quoted by Morgan, states were graded on the friendliness of their legal and regulatory frameworks to business.
Neither columnist mentioned that, of the 47 states reported by the U.S. Department of Education, New Mexico was next-to-last in the fraction of students graduating from high school. (Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 21, 2013, p. 22)
Perhaps New Mexico’s business problem isn’t so much an inattentive legislature or a cool business attitude created by regulation, but an absence of parental encouragement for persevering work and lifelong learning.